Film Name: Axel Falcon
Director: Bazz Hancher
Writers: Bazz Hancher, S.N. Sibley, Michael Walcott
Starring: Richard Teasdale, William Stafford, Thomas Lee Rutter, Laura Liptrot, Mark Sneddon, Cy Henty, Kemal Yildirim
Meet Axel Falcon, a dedicated cop determined to cleanse the streets from murder and corruption. But tragedy strikes when his family is brutally taken from him. With nothing left to lose, Axel embarks on a relentless quest for vengeance, following the enigmatic clues left behind by an unknown assassin.
As Axel delves deeper into the criminal empire, he faces Davro, the man responsible for the tragic fate of his loved ones. But Davro is not your average villain. He’s a peculiar and eccentric figure, surrounded by an army of masked warriors, robots, and ruthless henchmen who obey his every command. Moreover, he holds the city’s high-ranking officials under his sway, giving him unprecedented power. How did Davro attain such authority? What is his secret? The only obstacle in his way is Axel Falcon, a force to be reckoned with.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival, I got a chance to ask Writer/Co-Director Bazz Hancher a few questions about the film ‘Axel Falcon‘
‘Axel Falcon’ has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Friday 12th January at 20:00pm
Q. Your film Axel Falcon has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. A fusion of cheese and gore with hints of black comedy with some great acting, brilliant visual fx, stunning make-up fx, and visionary set pieces. (disclaimer: all the above may not be true)
Q. You wrote the script with S.N. Sibley and Michael Walcott. What was the process of your writing together?
A. This is an easy answer: Steve was responsible for the script from the original film, A Home for the Bullets (2005). I then reimagined the movie, which started by deciphering the original script. I kept the majority of characters and dialogue from the original script and made my adaptions where I needed them. My relationship with Steve was an easy one. He said I could reimagine his film, so that is what I did, and I did that my way, and this was a terrific way of working. Then we have Mike, who asked me what the hell I was doing? for which I could not explain. But as always, Mike stuck with me because he is a good egg and a talented filmmaker who does so much work behind the scenes.
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the script for Axel Falcon?
A. My influences were Turbo Kid (2015) and, to a lesser extent, Death Wish (1974). However, Steve Sibley, who wrote the original script, told me his influence was ?High Crime (1973), directed by Enzo G Castellari. I connected with this as some of the characters in my vision of the film feel a little like the characters from Enzo G Castellari’s 1990: The Bronx Warriors. Steve also said the Heroic Bloodshed of Ringo Lam, a genre of film that influenced his original script revolving around stylised action sequences and dramatic themes, such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption, and violence. Both Steve and I are big fans of Euro-crime and Giallo’s such as Blazing Magnum (1976), and I love The Big Racket (1976) and The Violent Professionals (1973), so in a word, good old fashioned exploitation grindhouse cinema.
Q. What were some of your influences on the look and style of the film?
A. I loved Turbo Kid, so it’s the Pound Land version of Turbo Kid crossed with Mad Max (1979) but without any cars. I feel with so many good cameras on the market, including the one that we use that, some films are so polished they lose their filmic look. It was important to us to make the film look more filmic, which meant carefully grading and adding film emulation, to avoid the sterile look of video. Some people would say why would you do such a thing but for us the pictures need to fit the narrative of what type of film the audience is watching. I am talking more about film grain rather than colour gels or heavy colour grades; this is definitely not about film vs digital, it’s more about what we feel our film should look like. I feel once you have seen the film it may make more sense, or maybe not.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. Steve didn’t even have a remaining script from his original film A Home for the Bullets, I had to go onto YouTube and write the script off the YouTube subtitles. Easier said than done when the dialogue is in Tyneside English coupled with YouTube and its insane interpretation of said English, it would have been easier writing the script in Mandarin.
Anyway, dialogue-wise we only changed about 20% from the original film. We only did this because of the different characters that we had introduced. We have told the same story but in a different way from a different perspective. Like most indie films the dialogue moves as the film grows, this may be by chance or necessity, which is exactly what happened even up to the last shooting day. If it’s not working make it up as you go.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. I hated almost every minute making this film. However, I enjoyed every minute on set with the actors and crew. I love the banter and the fact the people who are with me are helping us put our vision together. The majority of cast and crew who have worked on this film I had never worked with before, all I can say it’s been an absolute pleasure and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for everything they have done under extremely difficult circumstances. Also, James Underwood had a nose bleed that wouldn’t stop and ended up putting a tampon up his nose to stem the flow (see picture below)
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. The last three to four years have been very difficult for White Raven Films and those involved with our projects. It’s not that I don’t want to answer your question, its more to do with our documentary that is showing at Horror on sea. The documentary explains the issues we have had and the deep sadness it has left behind. Darkly Took the Light (2014) is very important to me personally and those who watch this short documentary will probably see why.
Q. What makes Axel Falcon stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. This is definitely a hybrid of a film that has a number of different genres in it. When you look at Steve’s influences for the original film A Home for the Bullets, he had so many influences coupled with my added interpretation, it’s no wonder it’s a hybrid of a film. What I will say is that the gore is there, as it almost always is in our films, so I can at least call it a horror of sorts. However, I think the film will stand out as I’m an old-fashioned film-maker in the way I see pictures and how I edit. I’m still unsure if the film will stand out in a good or a bad way
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I only want people to enjoy this film for what it is, if you are looking for a deep meaning you will not find it here, if it’s a clever plot twist, again you will not find it here. However, if it’s an over-the-top cheesy gore fest with Lazers, monsters, a rogue cop verses an evil eccentric villain, then I’m sure you will not be disappointed that you took 90 minutes out of your life to watch this film. The fact of the matter is this film is better than having diarrhoea!
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I am working on a darker film that involves the antichrist. It is only a short film as features have taken a detrimental effect on my health and pocket. I want this to be polished so I’m going to take my time with Mike to plan this film out, I also want to shoot this myself so I need to revisit the camera after many years away. I did shoot a lot of the moving footage in Falcon but jimbo did the majority of the camera operation. I’m hoping to work with actors I haven’t worked with before and bring some old faces back. I’m so lucky to have a great team, and again, I’m sure they will be back on board for this project.
Q. If someone was looking to get into filmmaking what advice would you give them?
A. It is very difficult to give advice as I’m not a successful filmmaker, I’m a working-class bloke making films on a shoe string. The truth is if you want to work in the film industry you need to make some powerful friends, we all know what you have to do to make powerful friends. You don’t then need talent as the powerful friend will surround you with people who do have talent who will do the work for you. After saying that, if you want a hobby that is rewarding artistically and socially then indie filmmaking is for you. For every pretentious arsehole that is in this game there are real decent people. What could be better than that, who doesn’t want to interact with decent people. Also, you may get to Horror-on-Sea who have plenty of decent people to meet.
You can find out more about White Raven Films on the website and following social media Twitter – Instagram – Facebook
‘Axel Falcon’ has been selected to plat at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Friday 12th January at 20:00pm
You can find out more about the festival and purchase tickets here:
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
